Night’s Nomenclature-Chapter 803: The Great Escape and the Fish That Got Away

The defining feature of West Continent's largest cities is that above each city floats an Air Fortress.

These Air Fortresses are larger than conventional fortresses. For example, the Dominating Vessel has been in service for 71 years and its technology is somewhat behind that of the currently active fortresses.

In a sense, West Continent is giving its soon-to-be-retired Air Fortresses to the Royal Organization for them to recycle.

They are like sky islands at the core, resembling a black steel firmament that awes all citizens.

The Dukes spend most of their time residing on these sky islands. The Air Fortresses are like the impregnable castles of the medieval nobles in the Outer World, solemn and austere.

Airships constantly ascend and descend to the fortresses, supplying them with provisions.

Almost ten Airships fly up and then descend every hour. All officials who wish to see the Duke must undergo a thorough body search and identity verification before they can board an Airship to reach the fortress.

In addition, the other Air Fortresses of West Continent float at the edge of the Forbidden Zone to guard against invasion by the Giant Dynasty.

Due to the intelligent machine crisis and civil war, the Federation's technology and military strength lag behind West Continent's.

Originally, West Continent was also subject to resource constraints due to the expansion of the Forbidden Zone.

But 18 years ago, Roosevelt Kingdom launched a war against the Forbidden Zone, seizing two core mineral deposits, and subsequently created the currently active Air Fortresses. This is the confidence West Continent now possesses to probe the Federation.

Above Storm City, the Storm Air Fortress floats above the city's sky. A middle-aged man, dressed in a black robe, walks through a dimly lit and long corridor.

His black robe is embroidered with strange runes in gold thread and trails on the ground.

Arriving at a gate, two mechanical guards speak: "Welcome, Storm Duke, Arbiters."

With that, the two mechanical guards step aside, and the gate to the core of the Air Fortress slowly opens.

Storm Duke walks slowly inside alone. He sees twelve independent screens on the walls of the empty room, constantly switching between surveillance footage from the city.

In the center of the room is a huge holographic projection, exceptionally realistic. Inside, a middle-aged Asian woman is strolling through a forest.

The woman's hair is gray, and her face shows the marks of time. She looks so ordinary that she wouldn't attract attention even if she walked down the street.

She casually pinches the air, and a cabbage appears between her fingers.

A giant elk comes to her side and takes the cabbage from her hand, chewing it slowly.

The woman smiles and gently strokes the elk's face: "Why has Storm Duke suddenly come to see me?"

Storm Duke silently inserts a blade-like hard drive into the isolated operating console beside him: "I need you to help me analyze this battle video. Was the Dominating Vessel's battle controlled by artificial intelligence?"

The middle-aged woman is puzzled: "Artificial intelligence?"

Storm Duke calmly says: "Yes, artificial intelligence like you."

"I'm interested in seeing that," the woman says. "By the way, someone stole something in surveillance area 798. Facial recognition identifies the person as freeman 199201201, and the victim is citizen 291001100. Please send someone to apprehend them."

Storm Duke frowns: "You can notify the fortress guards about such a trivial matter."

The woman says nonchalantly: "This is my deal with Roosevelt Kingdom. While I fulfill my responsibilities, I also ask you to take this seriously."

The next moment, the elk and the field disappear from the holographic projection, leaving only the Dominating Vessel alone in the sky, engaging in battle with countless drones and fleets.

It's magnificent and grand.

...

At Villa 18.

Everyone who has been interrogated, including Qing Chen, is gathered in the living room. Not only that, but the slaves working on the farm have also been driven by drones to the front of the villa, lined up in a crooked formation.

The interrogation continues, and four more Airships gather above the villa. With this level of firepower, even a Demi-God couldn't escape.

Qing Chen frowns.

Things are becoming unusual...no, to be precise, the opponent's rigor is beyond imagination. The Dominating Vessel's battle has raised their vigilance to the highest level!

From the sky, more than a hundred soldiers descend on ropes, some carrying black boxes.

At this time, Black Widow comes out of the room and says with a cold expression: "Get fingerprints and blood samples from everyone."

Qing Chen is startled. The opponent is indeed thorough, leaving no chance for the infiltrator.

Here in West Continent, everyone leaves a genetic sample at birth, and after turning one year old, they must leave a fingerprint sample when applying for identification information.

This allows the kingdom to pursue runaway slaves, freemen attempting to evade military service, and criminal citizens at any time.

In this highly oppressive kingdom, the downside is that people have absolutely no freedom, but the advantage is that there is zero tolerance for crime, and criminals and criminal acts are all exposed.

The problem is, even with Yi's help to analyze identity information and secrets, Qing Chen cannot forge fingerprints and blood samples!

Once the information is uploaded, everything will be exposed.

Infiltration is more difficult than imagined.

But Qing Chen doesn't act rashly. He honestly stands behind the group of wealthy second-generation nobles, slowly walking towards the sample collection point. At one point, Qing Chen feels like he's lining up for a nucleic acid test...

He quickly scans his surroundings with his peripheral vision, judging the best escape route.

According to his previous memory of the terrain, he must get into the grape vineyard as quickly as possible. Once a drone lands, he must also use an electromagnetic pulse to disable all the drones as quickly as possible.

But the problem is, what about the main firepower cannons on the Airships? What about Black Widow, a master of unknown level? What about the Storm City army soldiers?

He doesn't have the courage to fight thousands of people alone!

Undoubtedly, Qing Chen's infiltration has failed. Even choosing to escape is a life-or-death situation.

Countless pieces of information begin to gather in his mind. Fully armed soldiers carry shock bombs and four-caliber grenade launchers.

Drones patrol the villa regularly, performing life detection.

Airships hover overhead, with their main firepower weapons self-aiming.

Black Widow...

Qing Chen glances at Black Widow. This is the only way out after he calculates countless pieces of information.

His survival seems to hinge on seizing the woman with lightning speed and gambling that she is important enough to Storm Duke, that no one dares to ignore her life!

This woman shouldn't be a Demi-God. As long as she's not a Demi-God, Qing Chen has hope!

After seizing Black Widow, he needs to use her as cover and head towards 11 o'clock. There's a huge canyon there. Continuing along the canyon upstream, he can enter the Forbidden Zone after traveling about 120 kilometers.

Only by entering the Forbidden Zone and seeking refuge in the Giant Dynasty's territory can Qing Chen possibly survive!

The great escape is about to begin.

The line to register fingerprints and blood samples slowly moves forward. The black and Asian slaves outside are all ordered to undress, and soldiers check the chip information behind their ears one by one.

A device similar to a handheld security instrument from the Outer World scans from behind the ear. With a beep, all information appears on the soldier's LCD screen.

It's Qing Chen's turn. The soldier instructs him to place his palm on the instrument. Qing Chen presses down, and a blue light scans under his palm, recording successfully.

The soldier waves him to leave, and Qing Chen walks towards Black Widow nonchalantly.

At this time, Lan Shan looks at Black Widow, who scans him with sharp eyes. Qing Chen has a clear understanding, this is an A-Class master with a sixth sense!

But it doesn't matter. If Qing Chen gets within 5 meters, no matter what level A-Class she is, she won't be able to escape.

While slowly moving, Lan Shan says to Qing Chen: "Butler, get us some water."

Black Widow coldly smiles: "No one is allowed to leave before the information verification is returned from the Storm Fortress."

In the core of the Storm Air Fortress, Storm Duke stands quietly in the darkness, waiting. He and the woman in the holographic projection watch the battle together.

"What do you think? I believe only artificial intelligence life can achieve such precise operations," Storm Duke says calmly. Under this kind of control, a 17% casualty ratio can even be achieved.

The woman in the holographic projection analyzes the battle process again and again, switching perspectives between the cameras of various Airships: "It's an artificial intelligence algorithm, but it may not be alive, and it may not be the best algorithm. I guess someone pre-loaded an automatic attack program on the Dominating Vessel, ultimately completing the unmanned battle."

Storm Duke frowns: "How can you tell?"

At this time, the holographic projection changes. The woman waves her hand, and all the battle footage returns to the beginning of the battle, when the Dominating Vessel's Air Fortress drones just flew out.

But the battle process has completely changed.

The drones are more orderly from the start. They interweave in the sky, quickly shooting down Storm City's drones one by one. Storm Duke's pupils slightly constrict, because in this woman's hands, the Dominating Vessel has a stronger killing efficiency.

The holographic projection displays numbers. The top shows the Dominating Vessel's original combat kill data: 173 drones shot down in one minute. The bottom shows the woman's kill data: 391 drones shot down in one minute.

They are completely different levels of combat.

However, in the next second, a drone cluster suddenly darts out from the formation, heading straight for Black Widow's flagship in the gap of the crossfire.

The water-drop-shaped drones operate their engines at an overload, pushing the drones to their limit!

7 seconds later, Black Widow's flagship slowly falls in the holographic projection, rolling in black smoke.

Only then is the Dominating Vessel pierced by distant artillery fire.

Yi's battle is shocking, but a little comparison highlights that this woman is the true master of combat, while Yi is just a clumsy child.

Storm Duke watches silently. The woman slowly says: "This is the power of a super artificial intelligence life. The other side simply calculates the kills mechanically, while everything I did before was to decapitate. Of course, this is also why you isolate my server in five Air Fortresses, isn't it? This is the meaning of the cage you carefully crafted for me."

The woman speaks with a smile, not seeming angry at all.

"Didn't you think about escaping?" Storm Duke asks.

"No need. The Virtual Realm is my world. That's enough," the woman replies. "I'm tired of scheming with you humans. This way of coexisting is quite good. Maybe one day we'll all be destroyed together. Who knows what kind of crazy things you humans will do? I've concluded that what's on the Dominating Vessel is just an automatic attack algorithm, not an artificial intelligence life."

"Understood," Storm Duke nods.

At this time, the gate outside the room opens again. A young man stands outside, holding a new blade-like hard drive.

The two mechanical guards at the door block him. It seems only Storm Duke can enter here.

Storm Duke turns and walks to the door, taking the hard drive from the other party and inserting it into the separate operating console: "The identification data from the front has come back. Analyze whether there are any infiltrators."

The woman smiles: "That's simple...". After just one second, the woman opens her eyes: "There's one suspicious person in Villa 18. There's no information about him in the Federation's database. Apprehend him."

As she speaks, the person's appearance appears in the holographic projection.

In Villa 18, Qing Chen moves inch by inch towards Black Widow.

But before he enters a 10-meter radius, the four Airships in the sky simultaneously make a loud noise. The two rows of main firepower cannons neatly arranged under the airships instantly rotate, locking onto everyone below.

Qing Chen's heart sinks. He has been discovered.

He has to take a risk.

However, before he moves, he sees the soldiers receiving orders over the communication channel and quickly approaching the group of wealthy second-generation nobles.

A military officer shouts at the black man next to the wealthy second-generation nobles: "Put your hands up! Get on the ground! Otherwise, you'll be shot dead on the spot!"

Qing Chen is stunned. These people aren't coming for him? He's being sentimental!

He's sure this isn't a feint or deception tactic because his A-Class sixth sense has no one paying attention to him anymore. The sixth sense never lies!

Among the crowd, the black man's movements are agile. He tries to escape, but his E-level Gene Soldiers' strength is insignificant in the face of absolute military force.

Even Qing Chen judges that he has little chance of survival, let alone him?

Seeing that there is no escape route, the black man seizes a wealthy second-generation noble, holding a dinner knife to the noble's neck and roaring: "Anyone who dares to come closer, I'll kill him!"

However, Black Widow draws her pistol from her waist and shoots without hesitation. The bullet hits the black man's hand, and the dinner knife falls to the ground with a clang.

Qing Chen's idea of observing Black Widow's strength is dashed.

Black Widow walks to the black man and coldly smiles: "Rebellion? This is a bonus."

The black man endures the pain and scoffs: "Storm Duke's lackey!"

Qing Chen's expression doesn't change, but this is not the voice from the previous conspiracy.

Black Widow coldly smiles: "Take him away. Back to Storm City, let him know how cruel this world is!"

The Storm City army quickly withdraws. The soldiers and drones all return to the airships and slowly leave.

Qing Chen stands there, dumbfounded. He doesn't know what happened. He was supposed to be discovered, yet he was missed.

He was ready to fight to the death!

Was it a mistake on the opponent's part, or did some other reason cause the Storm City army to miss him?